It is with mixed emotions that we announce the retirement of Paul Gilligan, effective December 31, 2020. Paul has led our tax department for the last twenty years and has brought his technical expertise and creativity to our clients. We feel very fortunate to have had Paul as our partner over these past twenty years and also know that he will continue to be, and always be, a member of our firm. Although Paul is retiring to his home in Ponte Vedra, Florida, he will still be active with us on a consulting basis and as a source of historical client knowledge when necessary.

We were very fortunate to bring Paul into our firm in 2000 to be our lead tax partner. We worked with Paul at Deloitte & Touche where he had an outstanding reputation of being a creative tax mind and problem solver. Paul’s professionalism and knowledge allowed us to keep growing the firm with the inherent comfort level that there was not a client engagement that we could not pursue. Paul managed and developed many of our tax professionals over the years to levels they could not have imagined without his assistance and guidance. Paul also assisted many of our clients in achieving business success through strategic corporate tax planning, estate and succession planning, M&A planning and individual tax planning. He became the first phone call for many of our clients making key decisions in their business and personal lives. Paul always got to know our clients and have fun with them in his professional capacity making sometimes stressful situations less difficult with his personality and sense of humor.

Dave and I are going to truly miss Paul and all that he brought to the table on a daily basis. We wish him the very best and will continue our personal relationships with him because more than anything else he became a true friend to us as well as many of our clients. He has threatened to read more, exercise more and reduce his golf handicap to a ten in his retirement. We do think he can read more and exercise more!!

As Paul has been transitioning to retirement over the past year, Prasanna Kidambi, Tax Partner, has effectively co-managed our tax department with Paul. Many of you already know Prasanna and the tax team that Paul has built. We have many high level tax professionals including three Tax Partners and several Tax Senior Managers and Tax Managers who will work with Prasanna to continue to deliver high level strategic tax services, as well as annual tax compliance.

Congratulations and gratitude to Paul for all he has done and accomplished at Stowe & Degon.

Best wishes,

Mike and Dave